The Tintin quiff is one of the first things you notice about David De Gea and
as Sir Alex Ferguson has an almost pathological mistrust of long or foppish
hair, it is a surprise that the Manchester United manager has not instructed
his goalkeeper to get his barnet cut. He did just that with Bébé when the
Portuguese arrived at Old Trafford sporting a shock of fuzzy dreadlocks and
was instantly ordered to visit the barber’s.

But for Eric Steele, the United goalkeeping coach responsible for marshalling
De Gea through what, at times, has been a cruel and uncompromising
transition